Unabridged
by jellinor
Summary: Team Minato grew up in the shadow of conflict, coming of age during The Third Shinobi World War. They weren't up for the challenge, but that never stopped them from trying – and two years on, they are still fighting and dying and saving each other the best that they can. Kannabi Bridge wasn't supposed to be their last mission together. But it was.
1. Chapter 1: Letting Go

Author's Note: Based on the final chapter of Kakashi Gaiden and beyond, because not enough has been said about Nohara Rin. And how did they manage to take down that bridge, anyway?

Also, all reviewers and reviews can expect much cheer, just sayin'.

Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto_.

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><p><strong>UNABRIDGED<strong>

Chapter One

**Letting Go**

#

He pulls away from her, somehow managing to swat feebly at her wrist as he does, and this last act of defiance shakes her to the core, because nothing about their loud, vibrant Obito was ever feeble or even remotely weak.

"It's alright," he wheezes, firmly but with borrowed breath as his remaining lung slowly collapses under the strain of simply being alive. "Go!"

His hand falls away from hers and hits the ground with all the grace of a dry, crumpled leaf, and Rin nearly cries when it just _stays_ there.

Obito, she realizes – strangely belatedly – is really, truly _dying_, slowly and so _painfully_.

(And she can't do anything to save him.)

Suddenly, it doesn't matter that shinobi are trained in worst-case scenarios only; that medical-nin in particular are taught to let some go and _move on_; or that she always was _such_ a good student, because this… this _thing_ playing out right now in front of her isn't one of Minato-sensei's weird bonding exercises, or even a badly hurt patient at the hospital.

This is Obito.

(_Obito_.)

And she is _Rin_. She is the clever, kind and friendly Rin, who graduated from the Academy at the top of the class and with special commendation from the Third himself for her superb chakra control; she is the Rin who has yet to put as much as a scratch on Kakashi in hand-to-hand combat and who grasps maybe a quarter of the Kenton that Obito masters so easily, but who is a proud member of Team Minato all the same because not even sensei can do what she does best; she is the Rin who transplanted a damn Sharingan eye, mere moments ago, from one teammate to the other (probably making medical history while she was at it, go figure) with a hastily invented procedure that she probably won't remember come tomorrow, in the field without the proper tools or even an ounce of anaesthetic to offer either of them; she is _that_ Rin. But even for all her past accomplishments, and despite never once having let her team down in their three years together, she is now failing one of her most important people in the worst way imaginable.

She stares at his hand, ghostly pale and so different from the strong, warm hand that helped her to her feet just minutes ago, stares and stares and _stares_. And even though she _knows_, she wills it to move, to twitch – to live again – and for the boy on the ground to jump to his feet and announce to the world that this was just some dumb joke but they totally fell for it hook, line and sinker: what, couldn't they tell that he was only pretending? Never mind Kakashi, who has always been mean like that, but did _she_ really think that an Uchiha such as he – an Uchiha with an awakened Sharingan, no less! – would ever get killed off so easily? Then, after brushing himself off and working out a few kinks in his back (because Obito would, after all, really have fallen down earlier, though the rest was theatre, genjutsu and cheap tricks), he is supposed to cast a hurt look in her direction – one which she will make a point of ignoring outright, because didn't his mother teach him that it's just plain _wrong_ to play on other people's fears like that? – before moving in for the kill by smirking knowingly and triumphantly at Kakashi, perhaps even mouthing the word 'crybaby' for good measure.

(And Kakashi would _snap_.)

Kakashi, who treats Obito like a burden at best, would lose his perennial cool and momentarily forget not only himself but the mission as well, in favour of closing in on their teammate – quick as lightning and with thrice the destructive power – to give him the beating of a lifetime. And Rin would let her boy be, just this once. She may be Team Minato's designated keeper of the peace, but such an _outrageous_ prank practically _begs_ for swift justice; not to mention that this unexpected eruption of a sentiment other than bored indifference is sure to haunt her for weeks to come, because doesn't it mean that Kakashi somewhere deep down actually cares about them? Still, ever the sensible one, she would take it upon herself to carefully scan the area for more hostile presences before eventually patching up whatever is left of Obito when Kakashi has rid himself of his most immediate fury.

(_Yes_. That sounds about right, she thinks.)

Not that any of this happens, of course. Nor will it, for that matter, because this is their goodbye forever. He can't stay for much longer, and neither can she: time is running out very quickly now – one of them has much too little left to give, while the other has much too little left to spare – and they both know this, just as they know that whatever reinforcements making their way towards their location won't be coming from home, that the fighting earlier has left even Kakashi's chakra reserves dangerously low, and that those who still can need to _get out now_ before it's too late for everyone.

Assuming that it isn't too late already.

Although even if it were, there would be little any of them could do about it, because for all their mastery of chakra, ninja wield no power over time. Granted that a famous few are able to manipulate it for their own selfish purposes, but even Konoha's Yellow Flash controls mere moments at most – and moments are awfully fleeting, disjointed and pass so very quickly, whereas time in its entirety is unchanging and absolute. In the end, those who shroud themselves in a ninja's darkness and walk a ninja's path can only hope to cheat it for as long as they possibly can (which in _his_ case ought to be always, because sensei is beautiful when he fights and watching him cut through the air still gives her goose bumps), but Obito would understand this better than most, wouldn't he? Because Obito is an Uchiha, born into the darkness at the very beginning of the path and brought up to follow it until the end.

But even then, by everything she ever cherished, it wasn't supposed to be like this. It wasn't. It—

"Rin!"

(_Kakashi_.)

She knows that he wouldn't call out to her unless it was important, but she pretends that she doesn't hear him over the silence. Something strange and unfamiliar has crept into his voice – something that she doesn't like – and part of her thinks that she would rather not find out what has her reluctant-but-mostly-loyal teammate (and mostly-maybe-friend) worried.

But then the rock around her roars to life and the ground under her feet bucks, and she immediately turns to him for answers. It was sensei who taught her all the things that the Academy wouldn't and the hospital couldn't, and it was sensei who led them for years and years, but sensei isn't here to ask anymore. Kakashi is team leader now, though that might very well be the next-best thing, because there is nothing Kakashi cannot do.

He is shouting something at her. She can see his lips move under the thin material of his mask quite clearly, but the sound is lost among the convulsions of rock and earth. It is fortunate, then, that Rin doesn't particularly need to hear Kakashi's instructions to know what it is that he wants her to do; not when he is hanging off the very edge of a boulder, nearly dislocating a shoulder in an effort to reach her, with a desperate plea in his mismatched eyes to please hurry the hell up and grab on already!

(_What are you waiting for, dammit? Do you _want_ to die?_)

(...well? does she?)

She actually has to stop and think about that, and it isn't until someone distinctly _not_-Kakashi chokes out her name – and how she hears this over the screeching and rumbling when she does little else, she has no idea – that she realizes that she is crying again.

.

_Hurry, Rin! _Which is it?_ Hurry! _Which will it be?_ Rin!_

.

Rin is kunoichi, a medical-nin, a proud ninja of the Leaf. The darkness is her birth right, the path is hers by choice and she doesn't believe in happily-ever-afters almost by default. Still she prays that Obito one day forgives her, because with his name frozen on her lips, she fumbles for Kakashi's outstretched hand.

And she takes it.


	2. Chapter 2: Holding On

Chapter Two

**Holding On**

#

Kakashi's hand closes around hers, and he yanks her off her feet just as the whole world comes crashing down around her to violent claps of what could be thunder. (But isn't.) And she senses two, four, six, maybe more, chakra signatures that shouldn't be there. (But are.)

Even so, Kakashi's grip around her fingers is firm. His jaw is set and his eyes are determined, and something inside of her knows – just _knows_ – that he won't leave her behind to die.

(Like how Obito is dying, steadily fading until there is nothing left.)

Rin suddenly feels sick to her stomach and so weak weak weak, and she hopes to God that Kakashi won't notice. But he does, and without saying a word he tells her not to:

_Look at me. Don't look back, look at me._

But she can't, because the boy they are leaving behind is her friend and teammate and Obito, and Rin just can't not look back. So she steals a last glance over her shoulder and immediately wishes that she hadn't.

(Or she wouldn't have seen him disappear under boulders, rock and dirt.)

Then all of a sudden, she isn't dangling anymore and he has somehow hauled her to her feet. He holds her close – closer than she has ever been – and he keeps her there, pressed up against him so tightly that it almost hurts, in a vice-grip that she knows she couldn't break free from even if she wanted to.

"Hold on," he rasps from behind his mask, rushing chakra to the balls of his feet and they explode up, up and _up_.

He deposits her none too gently against the smooth trunk of a tree before falling to his hands and knees, breathing heavily. Kakashi is far stronger than most people would guess from his slim build alone, though a trained eye could tell at an instant that he was practically born for speed, stealth and high-risk assassinations, just like sensei, but the fighting earlier has drained him of his usual grace.

(Though, at this point even Rin cannot tell if it is exhaustion or something else that racks his body.)

The enemy rock-nin are closing in on them fast, and Rin instinctively tightens her grip around her kunai. Iwagakure already took Obito – and soon it will take them, too – but she refuses to give up just yet. She has not spent nearly two years fighting and killing and saving her boys in all the ways that she could, simply to just die now. Rin is a ninja, and that is not what a ninja does or what a ninja is. There is still Kakashi and Minato-sensei and home, and that is why she will go down fighting; that is why a ninja always has something left to lose, even Kakashi who claims to need nothing and nobody, but whose eyes are filled with the same hatred that Rin feels burning behind her own eyelids.

There is a sudden flutter of hands, but before she fully understands what is happening, the air around his right fist has come alive with chakra and is screeching with fury. It is Kakashi's Chidori, she realizes, but it's so wild and uncontrolled (and so _unlike_ anything they have come to expect from their Kakashi) that it looks nothing like she remembers. And Rin is proud.

"Hoho! You Leaf brats just don't die, do you?" laughs one of their pursuers crudely, crude like his village. "But you've got some balls, pulling a stunt like this on enemy territory, I'll give you that. Too bad it ends here."

"I'll hold them off for as long as I can," mutters Kakashi under his breath as he quickly slides his body between her and them, never taking his eyes off their would-be attackers. "Don't let them find you."

Rin doesn't want to understand. "But—"

"You don't die here, Rin." His voice is cold and flat, but she knows that he means it. "Even if I do, you won't."

(No, no, no.)

"K-Kakashi!"

(She is not leaving him. She is not leaving him like she left Obito, because there is no-one she would rather die for than Kakashi.)

"Rin, Obito liked you, loved you…" His tongue twists around the words awkwardly, as if he was unused to their shape in his mouth, and Rin feels her heart break a little. "You were important to him. And I promised."

"But what about _me_?" she cries, unable to hold it in any longer. "What about what _I_—"

"I abandoned my team." Kakashi's frank admission silences her at an instant, not because it is completely unexpected but because it is true. "I left my teammates to die."

Then suddenly and without warning, the rock-nin descend on them like vultures and Kakashi sinks a bit lower into the first stance that every shinobi is taught.

"Go, Rin!" he shouts as everything around them is washed in white light and drowned in noise. "_Go_!"

But she doesn't go. Instead, she remains frozen in place.


	3. Chapter 3: Underneath

Author's Note: The dam cracks. Minato's POV.

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><p>Chapter Three<p>

**Underneath**

#

The first thing he checks when the dust finally clears and the last of the enemy shinobi stops twitching, is if Kakashi is still breathing. (He is.) The second thing he confirms is that the boy seems otherwise mostly intact, with the exception of a few nasty-looking flash wounds and the fact that he is knocked out cold. (Thank God it's only that.) The third and final thing he deals with is the sharp end of the kunai pressed against the soft of his throat from behind by the hands of one of his own students. (Because it _is_ her, Minato is sure. The chakra feels too familiar, though the killing intent, which is rolling off her in thick waves, certainly isn't.)

"Don't touch him," she hisses; and if the sheer number of dead bodies strewn around them wasn't enough to clue him in, then the raw edge in her voice would have told him that something very serious must have happened.

"It's me," he says. "Rin, drop the kunai."

She hesitates, but finally she lowers her arm, though he notes that she doesn't let go of her weapon.

(_Good girl_.)

"Sensei," she murmurs hoarsely, and he imagines some of the tension draining from her shoulders. "You're here."

She bites her lower lip, but even that doesn't stop it from quivering – and exactly four heartbeats later, the appearance of outer calm shatters in a way that immediately sets off alarm bells in his head. They are still on enemy territory, Kakashi is in an unconscious heap on the ground and Rin is exhausted and bleeding and staring at him with too big, too glassy eyes. But at least she is awake, at least her breathing is shallow but steady, and Minato must know.

"What happened?" he asks as gently as he can, even patting her on the shoulder in a manner he hopes is encouraging. "What happened here, Rin?"

There is a brief flicker of something frantic crossing her face as she snaps to attention. "Sensei," she breathes. "Minato-sensei, he… We…"

She trails off, but bravely begins anew. "It just… It just…"

Minato frowns.

"I wanted to so much," she suddenly blurts out. "But I couldn't! And then… And then…"

(He's losing her.)

"Sensei, he… He…"

"Rin?"

(He must hurry. The focus in her eyes is almost completely gone.)

"Rin. Kakashi is fine. He probably just overdid it, see? He's fine."

But she stares at him without showing any signs of understanding, and Minato is just starting to think that maybe he overestimated her devotion to that particular teammate when Rin shakes her head violently. "No. Not Kakashi. It was Obito, sensei. It was Obito who asked me to do it!"

Obito. And only then does Minato realize that their Uchiha is nowhere to be seen. "Where is he?"

She doesn't answer.

"Rin, look at me." He forces a smile over lips. It doesn't quite reach his eyes. "Where is Obito?"

"…_Obito_." She all but chokes out his name. "He… Obito is…"

"Tell me where Obito is." Minato swallows hard and hopes that she won't notice. "Rin, tell me."

(_Please_. They were his first students.)

Slowly, she points to the landslide below, and he suddenly feels a lot older than his twenty-four years.

"Obito is hiding down there?" he asks quietly, because he could still be wrong.

But she shakes her head again and whispers only one word:

"_Underneath_."

Minato doesn't ask again.


	4. Chapter 4: Home

Author's Note: Wow, I'm on a roll today. Sorry about the super-short chapter, everyone, but I simply couldn't make this fit anywhere else. On that note: I'm not sure if I like what I've done with this fic so far. I'm still trying to strike that balance, you know? I want my shinobi to be part trained killers and part human beings, so they can't be too cold (yes, Kakashi, I'm looking at you), too pragmatic (Minato) or too emotional (Rin). Maa, I don't know... the struggle goes on.

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><p>Chapter Four<p>

**Home**

#

Sensei's pale eyes flitter between her face and the rubble below – _once, then twice_ – and she hardly dares to breathe. But sensei doesn't say anything. He doesn't ask her to repeat herself, doesn't ask her to explain exactly what she means by what she has just said. He doesn't even ask, is she sure?

And in spite of herself, Rin almost wishes that sensei would.

She is sure. She is so, so sure, because Konoha is at war and Rin is a medical-nin, and medical-nin can't afford to make mistakes when the village is at war. Because if she wasn't sure, then Rin would be by his side, healing, soothing and _helping_, and surely Minato-sensei knows that. Because Rin was there to feel the last of his chakra slip away, and she was the one to gorge out his eye.

Minato-sensei wasn't there, and sensei shouldn't be aware of the Sharingan in Kakashi's skull just yet. But even so she can tell that sensei somehow knows.

"Rin."

Sensei's eyes are wide and alert, but they have closed themselves to her all the same and Rin realizes with a pang that this must be how Minato-sensei grieves.

She never knew.

(And already she wishes that she didn't.)

"This isn't safe." Sensei's voice is clipped but steady. "Rin, we have to move."

She nods mechanically. They have already stayed for far too long.

Then something dark and heavy is slung over her shoulders, and she instinctively struggles against sensei to get away. But he is a jounin to her chuunin, and Konoha's Yellow Flash and _sensei_; and when she finally gives up, she finds herself pressed against the rough folds of his flak jacket.

This feels awfully familiar, she thinks and inhales his scent greedily. Minato-sensei smells so much like the village and home that she for once doesn't mind it when her vision grows hazy.

And when sensei bends down to hoist something white and limp over his shoulder, she tightens her grip around his sleeve, because this is the only safety she has left.

"Don't worry. I've got you."

Sensei's voice is distant, and then they are off.


	5. Chapter 5: Variance

Author's note: Warning! Severe overuse of the word 'because' ahead! Why? Just because.

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><p>Chapter Five<p>

**Variance**

#

Once the peculiar, gently nauseating and entirely contradictory feeling of simultaneously being and non-being (and something so utterly freakish that Rin suspects that even sensei is hard-pressed to ever really get used to it) lifts from her body, quietly dissolving like fine mist, she stumbles – clumsily and head-first – into the fading daylight on unsteady legs. Her mind is reeling, and she half-expects a painful collision with the ground still rocking under her sandals. But sensei, it seems, has retained a firm grip on her shoulder throughout; and she's glad. Because even as the world slowly comes to a halt, and her senses finally catch up with the rest of her, she clings to him in the same way—

"I don't sense anyone, and the traps are still in place." Minato-sensei gently disentangles himself from her. "At least that's a good sign."

She would have agreed, because it's better than good (retreating to an old campsite and finding it undisturbed is better than anything they could have hoped for, she knows), but she only has eyes for the awkward mess of matted white and muted blue sprawled out on the grass by her feet.

Suddenly, awareness floods back to her – _Obito. Iwa. Obito. Sensei. Kakashi_... Oh God. _Kakashi!_ – and it jerks her back into action. She makes a move to reach him, to get to him, to help him like she couldn't help Obito, because Kakashi is badly hurt and he needs her. But someone holds her back, and Rin doesn't understand.

"Let go!" she pleads, but Minato-sensei doesn't budge. "Let go, sensei! Please, let go!"

"You need to calm down."

(She _is_ calm, she wants to scream. Can't sensei see that Kakashi isn't moving?)

"Rin?"

She has a biting retort ready on the tip of her tongue – _Don't you care at all, sensei? _– but even that is drowned out by the sound of her heart slamming against her ribcage like a sledgehammer when all of a sudden they are _two_. And then she just _can't_.

"Minato-sensei—" she chokes. "_Obito_."

"Rin-chan. Stop."

She stiffens. Rin-chan. No-one has called her that in years. Not since—

"Kakashi is counting on you."

Sensei doesn't say, but she hears it clearly – _We_ are counting on you; the village, Hokage-sama, everyone._ I_ am counting on you – and it makes her stomach turn with shame. She should know better (_knows_ better) than to lose her head now. Obito is gone, but Kakashi isn't; and she has seen far worse – _done_ far worse – but she is wasting valuable time.

"Stay here."

A kunai (one of Minato-sensei's special ones, identical in shape and size to Kakashi's jounin present) is pressed into the flat of her hand. Then, sensei vanishes among the trees, and she swallows once – _we're counting on you, we're counting on you, we're counting on you_ – squares her shoulders and swiftly gets to work on her only remaining teammate.

Kakashi lies perfectly still on his back, and she tries not to look too closely at the ugly cut over his left eye. Instead, she focuses on the damp, dark patches on his uniform, on the fine lacerations running across his skin like deranged spider web, on the blotches slowly turning his already pale skin whiter than even Hyuuga eyes; and given that they are precisely what they are, it's nothing she hasn't seen before.

At least this is familiar territory, she tells herself as she carefully puts down her weapon, rubs her hands together and chakra moulds itself to her fingertips; even if nothing else is.

"How is he?" is suddenly asked from somewhere behind her.

Rin doesn't flinch.

"It's clear," sensei adds, almost as an afterthought. "We'll stay here tonight."

He comes to a halt beside them, gingerly picks up the discarded kunai and pockets it; and then she knows for sure that Minato-sensei won't be leaving for a while.

"Rin, what do you need?"

"Bandages," she replies promptly, because Kakashi is in need of some serious patching up and her boys – sensei included, on occasion – make sure that she never has enough bandages. She nearly smiles, but then she _remembers_ and her heart hurts all over again. "But my pack, it's—"

(Gone. Lost. Buried along with Obito.)

Perhaps Minato-sensei understands, or at least he can guess, because he hands her three pristine rolls of white gauze, and she doesn't think that she has ever seen anything more beautiful.

"—anything else?"


	6. Chapter 6: Sharingan

Author's note: Okay, so there was this dilemma: clearly, Rin couldn't work her healing magic without first removing some of Kakashi's clothing, but to just unmask him like that? Never. So I'm pretending that Kakashi's mask somehow isn't connected to his shirt—oh the joys of creative licence!

Minato's POV again, and this chapter is especially for you, Prescripto13.

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><p>Chapter Six<p>

**Sharingan**

#

He watches her hands move speedily and expertly over the boy's torso, calloused fingers hovering over a particularly nasty cut to more fully examine the damage. A small, inelegant crease has appeared across her forehead, her mouth is a thin, taut line, and Minato silently breaks a little for all of Konoha's children, because at this moment it is painfully obvious that at only twelve winters, Rin is already old.

(What that makes him, already a seasoned twice-war veteran, Minato doesn't know. He decides that he rather doesn't think of it either, since he suspects that he wouldn't like the answer.)

He watches her unbuckle and somehow slip off Kakashi's heavy weapons harness, which is quickly followed by his belt, his forehead protector, his enforced arm protectors and his shirt, and then her hands are everywhere in a soothing glow of chakra: probing, pushing and pulling, closing wounds and putting things right the best that they can.

(They tell him that his team is lucky that she's so talented and unbroken. He tells them that they're lucky that she's Rin – just as they are lucky that Kakashi is Kakashi and Obito is Obito – and he sees it in their eyes that the Council doesn't understand.)

Her hands ghost over Kakashi's mask, close but never touching, in an almost-caress; and he suddenly finds himself missing Kushina more than ever.

(This was needs to end, he thinks. Preferably before they all go mad, not after.)

"That'll have to do," she mutters at last, adjusting the bandage around Kakashi's right shoulder one last time before sinking back on her heels, hands resting on her lap. "He'll be sore when he wakes up, but other than that…"

(He's alive.)

Yes. Minato agrees wholeheartedly. Alive is good.

"Rin?" he ventures, once Kakashi is back in his clothes.

(What happened?)

She clears her throat. "We were ambushed," she explains with a slight tremble, and already he knows that she is holding something back. "Kakashi got hit by a falling rock. Obito didn't make it out."

"Was he injured?" he asks, a little stunned at the thought of something so simple. Iwagakure's mastery of earth release techniques to one side, an Uchiha did not succumb to a few falling rocks – and Obito, whom Minato has taught nearly all he knows, certainly didn't.

Rin shakes her head. "No. But Kakashi was—"

A small, sad smile stains her lips.

"—and Obito saved his life."

(Obito saved his life. The words ring in his ears: Obito. Saved. His. Life.)

Minato is too old, too experienced and has far too much on his conscience not to know better, but as he lets the news wash over him, he feels a muted, bittersweet sense of pride. He has always known that Rin would sooner die than letting her team down, but for Obito, who lived for his clan's approval, to have sacrificed himself to save Kakashi and for Kakashi, who is locked in constant conflict with everyone (though mostly himself), to have fought for something other than the success of a mission, is a revelation of unprecedented proportions; and in spite of everything – or perhaps because of it – Minato has never felt prouder of his too-young, too-dysfunctional team.

Still, that doesn't quite explain what he supposes happened next.

"Kakashi is extremely talented," Minato points out mildly. "But _six_ rock-nin?"

(Six _grown_ rock-nin, he is tempted to add, whereof two were incapacitated before Minato even got there. Kakashi's potential as a shinobi was truly terrifying, but even he shouldn't have survived that battle with so few, so non-life-threatening injuries. In fact, and as much as it pains him as Kakashi's jounin-sensei to admit it, it is debatable whether or not he should have survived at all.)

Rin fidgets nervously. "Kakashi used his new jutsu."

"But it's an incomplete technique..." He frowns. "I told him not to use it again."

She opens her mouth as if to say something, but instead she reaches forward to gently peel back Kakashi's left eyelid, briefly revealing something red, black and _spinning_ before it rolls back into the boy's head.

Minato grows cold. Much feared and greatly envied by ninja in all the Five Great Shinobi Nations, there is no mistaking what this is, but _how_? Obito claimed that it only manifested in some clan members, not all – and it is plain as day for anyone to see that Hatake Kakashi is no Uchiha – so it shouldn't be possible for—

"Obito finally made it, sensei."

He looks at her sharply. Because as much as this was expected in its own unexpected way (it was always just a matter of time before Obito would), and as much as Minato is glad and sad and proud and heartbroken all at once to hear it, "Why does _Kakashi_ have the Sharingan?"

"Kakashi lost his eye." She quiets until her voice is barely audible, "Obito wanted him to have it."

"—so Obito _gave_ his Sharingan to Kakashi," Minato summarizes duly, still not quite comprehending.

Rin nods.

"But that's unheard of…!" He tactfully stops just short of accusing his own student of lying, but this is absurd. "Obito _gave_ Kakashi the Uchiha bloodline limit _how_?"

She looks down at her hands, but her voice is loud and clear when she says it.

"It was me. I did it."


	7. Chapter 7: Not Alone

Author's Note: Geez, sketching out his chapter was a _pain_. Rin is such an emotional rollercoaster, and did I go way overboard with Namikaze 'Mr. Nice Guy' Minato? Because, honestly, could I use 'gentle' to describe him more often than I already have? I doubt it, but it suits him at this point so there we go. Next chapter is 100% Kakashi's, by the way, so wish me luck!

Also, **thank you thank you thank you** to everyone following, favouriting, reviewing or just spending the time to read the story!

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><p>Chapter Seven<p>

**Not Alone**

#

"…_you_? Rin, _you_ did this?"

She takes a deep breath. It's her turn to be brave.

And sensei needs to know.

(Besides, she wanted this, didn't she? She must have, or she wouldn't have said it like that.)

"It's what Obito wanted," she tells the emblem on Minato-sensei's forehead. "Obito wanted him to have it."

(Obito, who was too proud to ask anyone for anything ever and _dying_ right there in front of her, and they were going to kill us anyway, sensei, so what did we have left to lose?)

"I had to try," she insists, fiercely now, because she will not – she will _not_ – cry in front of Minato-sensei. "I'm the medic. I'm the only one who could."

She holds her head high, but she can't read the expression slowly creeping into sensei's eyes and that scares her more than Iwa and Suna combined. Her hands curl into two hard fists as she waits for him to say something – anything – but then he _hugs_ her.

(Please don't say it, she begs him. Sensei, _please_ don't.)

"I'm sorry you had to go through all this alone."

(And then everything just stops. But Rin is not crying on Minato-sensei's flak jacket and sensei is not making low, soothing noises in the back of his throat just like the brother she used to have.)

"…I wasn't alone."

Her voice is hoarse, but Minato-sensei is wrong wrong wrong if he thinks that she did this all by herself. Kakashi, who is a great shinobi already and a good person deep down, even if he doesn't seem to know that about himself just yet, was there the whole time. And Kakashi, who is an extremely reserved teammate at best, an apathetic one at worst and habitually exudes annoyance, risked his life for her not once, but twice.

"Ah, of course. Kakashi."

(There is something about the way Minato-sensei says his name. But then she always suspected that sensei was especially fond of Kakashi.)

"Rin?" Minato-sensei gently pushes her away so he can look at her. "The Sharingan, is it…?"

"I'm not sure," she admits. She can't be, because everything happened so quickly. "But that second time, Kakashi's Chidori felt… _different_, somehow."

Sensei looks thoughtful, but he doesn't say anything; and maybe it is the shock finally wearing off, or perhaps the chakra she forced into both her teammates earlier, because suddenly she is no longer watching sensei watch Kakashi.

She doesn't even react when something warm is wrapped around her shoulders.

"_Get some rest…"_

(Minato-sensei's voice, but it is already far away.)

"…_don't worry…"_

(So soft, she thinks. It's so soft.)

"…_proud of you, Rin."_


	8. Chapter 8: Stars

Author's Note: …and so the story rolls on. Kakashi is pretty out of it in this chapter, but I think that is sort of understandable. It will come back to him soon enough, so don't worry; I plan on keeping true to the manga for as long as I can. I found this pretty tough to write, because Kakashi is an extremely complicated character and I was really struggling to look underneath his underneath.

Oh! And do tell me what you think about little Kakashi's conversation with Sakumo at the end. I was itching to include something super fluffy like, "When I grow up, I'm gonna be the BEST NINJA EVER! I'm gonna be just like YOU, DAD!" But I guess I'll just have to save that idea for another day XD

* * *

><p>Chapter Eight<p>

**Stars**

#

He doesn't understand how, exactly, but suddenly he's just 'there'.

Because it definitely feels like he is Somewhere, Kakashi thinks blearily and with considerable effort, as opposed to Somewhere Else, which could be anywhere.

It doesn't help him figuring out where he is or what he is supposed to be doing, but that's okay, because he realizes fairly quickly that it also hurts like hell.

He can't be sure (and seeing that he can't even seem to pinpoint where the damn throbbing originates from, it's hardly surprising), but he has this strange, strange feeling that this might possibly be somehow significant. Maybe.

He's finally making a bit of progress, he thinks. But then it really starts to hurt in a way he just knows cannot possibly be natural.

_Breathe_, commands him a voice from nowhere that nowadays sounds a lot like sensei's. _You know what to do. Ignore the pain and just keep breathi—_

Yes, yes. He needs to breathe. He knows, just as he knows for a fact that Minato-sensei knows that he knows. Though Kakashi learnt fairly early on that sensei, too, has a thing about stating the obvious.

Besides, there is nothing overly-complicated in calmly assessing the damage and regroup. He just needs the worst of the pain to subside first, that's all.

(It always subsides.)

It doesn't subside.

Instead, it feels like his head is on fire while the rest of him is underwater. But he knows that he'll go for it anyway if he has to, because he's Kakashi and a Leaf shinobi, and a Leaf shinobi might be down but he's never out and Kakashi is not afraid.

(_Whatever you do, don't panic. Don't panic_.)

But he is forced to give up all thoughts on the kunai somehow not within his reach as it ought to be, when he can't even seem to find his own fingers.

(_Breathe, Kakashi. Brea_—)

Oh.

Suddenly, things make a whole lot more sense, and he could almost laugh out loud at his own stupidity. Because what is he even worrying about when, clearly, he must be dead.

This is the afterlife, it's the only logical explanation; a mission must have gone wrong somewhere, or maybe he was ambushed by enemy shinobi. It doesn't really matter anymore, though Kakashi isn't sure what he is supposed to feel about somehow being outsmarted and killed off, because it was bound to happen eventually sooner rather than later.

(Besides, some people even choose to put an end to their lives all on their own, so death can't be such a bad thing after all, can it.)

But now that he is here… Minato-sensei was _definitely_ wrong about the choral singing and bright light at the end of some tunnel, and Kakashi can't help but to feel a bit disappointed in his Forever After. Not only is it dark and murky and extremely uncomfortable, but the—

_Stars_?

He's positive that they weren't there before, so he blinks again. But if anything, his vision clears.

The darkness above his head is scattered with tiny lights, and it instantly reminds him of _her_.

(Of course, it doesn't really remind him of her. It couldn't, because he was far too young to have made any memories of his own. But _he_ used to say that she had loved the stars more than anything, and even after everything that happened in the years after, Kakashi never once doubted it was true.)

("—but how _much_ is it? Is it a lot?")

("Yes, it's a lot, Kakashi. But she loved you even more.")

("Really? Even more than them?")

("Much, much more.")

("But how do you know?")

("I just know.")

("But _how_?")

("I'm a shinobi, Kakashi. Of course I know.")

("…I guess that _is_ a lot.")

But then he senses someone, and the presence is so close and feels so familiar that Kakashi's mouth goes dry.

It can't be.

(But who _else_ is there waiting for him? Who else?)

His throat feels unnaturally thick and his head throbs almost violently.

(He hasn't said it for so long.)

"Da—"

"Hmm?" And already he knows that something doesn't quite add up. "It looks like he's awake…"

The voice is all wrong.


	9. Chapter 9: Duty

Author's Note: I'm trying to mix things up a little (and also make the chapters a bit longer), so this one contains everyone's POV. But a few things first, starting with **Minato**: I always wondered how on earth Minato could take the whole 'Kakashi-has-a-bloodline-limit-now' thing so calmly, so in my version it freaks him out just a bit to know that one of his former students is suddenly running around with a permanently activated kekkei genkei. **Rin**: She deliberately disobeyed a direct order from Kakashi to escape, and I think there is something to be said about that. Besides, I doubt that Rin understands what Kakashi thinks he promised Obito. **Kakashi**: He is the team leader and a jounin. The hard decisions are his to make, but he is still just a thirteen years old and utterly lost; I hope it shows. You see, I figure that shinobi are great at looking underneath the underneath of almost anything except for their own feelings. So to me it makes sense that Minato, Rin and Kakashi would talk without actually talking.

* * *

><p>Chapter Nine<p>

**Duty**

#

It only takes a few short moments for the slightly dazed look on Kakashi's face to settle back into its usual guarded mask, but by then he has already seen it.

(The perfect droplets of jet-black on blood-red, slowly rotating round and round and round again.)

The Sharingan, thinks Minato grimly to himself and his thoughts wander to the kunai hidden in his sleeve. One of the Three Great Doujutsu.

(_Heaven's Eye_.)

As his most talented and perhaps most wayward student, the White Fang's son is especially precious to him, but Minato is no fool. Kakashi is still Kakashi and looks thoroughly disoriented, but even Minato doesn't _know_ at this point, and that makes the whole difference. Because given Rin's testimony and Kakashi's tendency towards shinobi brilliance, chances are that Obito's gift is at least partially functional and that Kakashi already has managed to combine one or more of its secret properties with his own original technique.

(Kakashi's Sharingan has two tomoes, he notes. Fugaku supposedly has three. Minato wonders if this is somehow significant.)

So the kunai pressed against the inside of his arm is a just precaution. After all, the Uchiha bloodline limit is responsible for some of the most powerful doujutsu known to the shinobi world and a lethal asset to any Hidden Village, but without the innate knowledge and extensive training that would normally accompany it, Kakashi is potentially extremely dangerous.

And Minato owes it to far too many people not to get this wrong; though, perhaps, most of all, he owes it to his former students.

(All of his former students. All three of them.)

He steals a furtive glance at Kakashi's left eye.

(Five seconds, he counts. Ten seconds. Fifteen.)

It doesn't deactivate. But there are no signs of anything else either, and Minato slowly releases the breath he didn't know he had been holding. "…Kakashi?" he prompts when the boy still hasn't moved.

But he is instantly made to regret it when Kakashi suddenly bolts upright, eyes almost as wild as his hair, and Minato can only hope to God that this won't trigger some kind of defensive reaction from the Sharingan.

"Sensei!" Kakashi exclaims a bit too loudly. "But… But how?!"

"This," explains Minato and with a simple flick to his wrist later, the kunai dangles from his index finger. "See these marks?"

Kakashi's gaze grows vaguely unfocused. "Jutsu," he concludes hesitantly.

"That's right," admits Minato quietly. "I use these kunai for my space-time ninjutsu."

"So those rock-nin…?"

Minato regards the boy seriously. Given the sheer amount of chakra Rin forced back into his body right after the fight, it's hardly surprising that Kakashi doesn't remember. "It has been dealt with," he replies simply, because even that is more than enough.

(A life for a life. Minato doesn't always approve, but that is the shinobi way.)

Kakashi seems to still be mulling over this when, suddenly, his whole body jerks.

Minato immediately tightens his grip around the kunai, prepared to—

"_Rin_."

Kakashi's voice is tinged with something that Minato cannot place.

"_What about Rin_—"

(Worry, thinks Minato, a little stunned. It's worry.)

"—_what happened to Rin_!"

And without taking his eyes off of the boy, Minato just points.

"…I'm sorry I didn't make it in time," he says at length, watching Kakashi watch Rin from the corner of his eye. "Rin told me everything."

Kakashi's shoulders sag.

**.**

It had already been dark when she finally woke up, older and warier than when she fell asleep.

(But that was just as well, she decides, because she has never appreciated silence more.)

Minato-sensei had still been watching over Kakashi, just like he promised, but when she stood up to neatly fold away the blanket around her shoulders, he had given her a single look:

_Be careful. Don't go too far._

(It's only us three left now.)

But at least the stars don't change.

The wind has picked up, she notes, slowly closing her eyes to the night sky. And then she is home.

(Almost.)

"Rin."

She has been dreading this, but at the sound of her name, she immediately snaps to attention and turns around to face him. And just as expected, Kakashi looks like he has been to hell and back, and Rin silently admonishes sensei for not keeping better watch.

"Kakashi. You're awake." She bravely forces some cheer into her voice, but she can tell from the way his eyes narrow that it is a hollow effort. "How—"

"You disobeyed a direct order."

He doesn't shout. Kakashi never shouts. But he exudes steel and quiet disappointment, and Obito's eye flashes deep red.

"_Rin_."

She meets his gaze defiantly. She refuses to shrink away from her own teammate like a frightened animal. She has nothing to apologize for.

"Rin, I told you to leave."

Kakashi's voice is terse, but all she can thinks is, Obito is gone and Kakashi is angry at _her_?

"As the team's medic—"

She grows cold. Kakashi wouldn't dare to use her oath against her.

"—it is your _duty_ to—"

(Enough.)

"First rule," she whispers into the dark, reciting the words she knows by heart, "no medical ninja shall ever stop medical treatment until the lives of his or her party members have come to an end."

Kakashi immediately opens his mouth to object to what they both know is a gross and deliberate misinterpretation.

"I couldn't leave you," she murmurs.

(Though what she really means is that she couldn't leave him, too.)

Kakashi suddenly looks unsure. "Rin, this—"

"Do you think he's up there?" she asks the night sky, because she would rather not hear what Kakashi might say next.

"Do I think who is where?"

His voice is weary.

"Obito." She nods to the little bright lights high above their heads. "Up there."

(She doesn't need to see him to know that Kakashi is watching her.)

"Come on," he says at last, sharply turning on his heel. "You'll catch a cold like this."

(He doesn't wait for her to catch up, but he doesn't leave her behind either.)

"Kakashi…?" she questions, because there is something not quite right.

"You told sensei," he says quietly, refusing to look at her.

She bites the inside of her cheek. "Minato-sensei has a right to know what happened. Obito is—"

Her tongue slips, Kakashi tenses and she secretly hates herself for it.

"—_was_ his student, too."

**.**

It is not until he has made sure that Rin is fast asleep that he dares to approach sensei about their assignment.

"Our mission to Kannabi Bridge…" He trails off, uncertain of what he should be expecting, because sensei's face doesn't change. "The mission will still go ahead."

And as soon as the words leave his mouth, Kakashi _hates_.

(Hates how small and uncertain he feels. Hates how close they all came to dying. Hates how badly he needs Minato-sensei's approval in this.)

"As team leader, it's your call," replies sensei in a low voice and Kakashi almost feels like screaming.

(He doesn't, of course, because life was never fair.)

"Sensei," he ventures instead, reluctantly touching his left eyelid. "Obito…"

"What Obito gave you is a precious gift," says sensei gently, but his eyes are far away. "Don't waste it, Kakashi."


	10. Chapter 10: Onwards

Author's Note: Oh the joys of filling in the blanks, eh? Sorry about the über-short update, but I just couldn't get this thing out of my head.

* * *

><p>Chapter Ten<p>

**Onwards**

#

They break camp at the crack of dawn, on Kakashi's command, and this time she doesn't even consider refusing.

_Obito_, she thinks as she adjusts sensei's shuriken holster around her waist. This is for Konoha, Kakashi, Minato-sensei and for _Obito_.

She hasn't worn standard shinobi equipment like this since her Academy days, and the belt (meant to encircle the width of a grown man, not a girl-woman) is much too big for her, but a ninja never travels without tools, even if they are not his own.

Then, satisfied that she is deadlier than before, she looks to sensei who looks to Kakashi who looks to the west.

"Let's go."

And they go.


	11. Chapter 11: Fall

Author's Note: Here's a little something about Kakashi and the Sharingan, because it can't possibly have been plain sailing.

* * *

><p>Chapter Eleven<p>

**Fall**

#

After nearly half a day's worth of mostly silent journey, Kakashi stumbles and falls.

Minato saw it coming almost five kilometres ago – could read it in the boy's slightly stilted movements, and the barely-there wobble of his right foot – but ultimately refrained from acting on it, because accepting Kakashi as team leader is also to accept that he is the most stubborn shinobi to have ever lived and drawn breath in the Hidden Leaf Village. It is childish behaviour, especially ill-befitting a jounin at war and it might even endanger the one mission that Konoha can't afford to fail, but then Minato thinks about the student that is dead, the students that remain and the thin lines on Rin's face – and he realizes that for whatever reason, Kakashi needs this.

(So Minato will allow Kakashi his antics, just this once.)

"I'm fine," mutters Kakashi to Rin, who is immediately at his side. "Rin, I'm fine."

She doesn't believe him; Minato can tell by the quiet exasperation in her eyes, and it dawns on him that he isn't the only member of their cell to have monitored Kakashi for signs.

(Konoha trains her young well.)

"You're _not_ fine," she bites back. "Kakashi!"

Kakashi is staring at his own clenched fists, Rin practically wilting at his side, and Minato decides for all of them that enough is enough.

He slowly counts to ten in his head before he pulls them together the best that he can. "Let's rest here for a while," he declares in a tone of voice that others obey.

And then he disappears among the trees, because even now Minato is still _sensei_.

He glimpses Rin holding out her hand to Kakashi, who grudgingly accepts it, and for the first time in what feels like forever, Minato dares to hope that maybe they'll be okay.

**.**

"Kakashi," she says, not-so calmly, "I can't help if you don't tell me what's wrong."

Not much is, he thinks. Other than the fact that Uchiha Obito died so Kakashi wouldn't have to, and that Uchiha's damn Sharingan eye is burning a hole through his head.

(But of course he doesn't tell her that either.)

"I'm fine," he repeats evenly, pretending that his head isn't on fire. "Look, it's alright."

"Then why did you trip?"

(Damn her. Kakashi seethes and his temples throb.)

"Maybe I lost my footing," he lies brazenly through his teeth. "It happens."

(Except it doesn't happen to shinobi like Kakashi and they both know this.)

"Kakashi…"

She looks at him with too big, too tired eyes and he fumes at his own cowardice. Rin only wants to help, but she'll want to examine the Sharingan and he simply can't let that happen.

(Not after sensei told him in a low voice that it still hadn't deactivated, because _what if_—)

"Kakashi, let me see the eye."

He briefly weighs his options. But the sharp edge in her voice leaves him no room to refuse and it doesn't help that medic-nin are notoriously stubborn, so he reluctantly turns his face towards her.

(But he makes sure to pin his gaze on a tree over her shoulder, just in case.)

"Thank you for being cooperative," she murmurs as her chakra ghosts over his face.

"Rin…" he mutters when she lingers a little too long over the edge of his mask.

"I know." She smiles reassuringly, and for a moment everything feels almost normal. "But I need to check the surrounding tissue."

And once she is satisfied enough to give him back his face, Rin sits back on her heels to look at him. "It doesn't seem infected," she says. "But… I think it would be best to cover it."

(Blind spot, he thinks. Obito. Blind spot.)

It's too dangerous. He can't accept this.

"It's just for now," she hurries to add, as if she could read his thoughts. "Sensei is here. He'll look out for us in the meantime."

Yes. But even sensei doesn't see all, he wants to say. Not like Obito could.

(Not like Kakashi can.)

He opens his mouth, but chakra flares from under the palm of her hand and into his chest, and then his vision blurs completely.


	12. Chapter 12: Under

Author's Note: It's no excuse, but I really have been busy lately and writing somehow ends up slipping down down down on the priority list. But I'm proud to say that I'm slowly but surely getting my act back together, and naturally that includes catching up on the manga. I would hate to spoil it for anyone, but holy macaroni, could things get any weirder?! Kishimoto-sensei, I admire you a lot, but at the moment I am extremely annoyed with you for messing with the timeline yet again.

* * *

><p>Chapter Twelve<p>

**Under**

#

It's taking too long, she thinks to herself as she watches his consciousness waver and slowly go out.

(_Why is it taking so long_?)

But she doesn't have time to pursue this line of thought much further, because Kakashi finally slumps forward, pale as a ghost and limp as a ragdoll. She doesn't even flinch when his shoulder, which is much too bony for a jounin, let alone a teammate (and what kind of a healer is she who only notices this now!) rams into hers. Gravity and the sudden onslaught of light-headedness push her back, but she grits her teeth, stands firm and lets him settle against her in an awkward almost-embrace.

He is close now, so close. His head weighs heavy on her shoulder, steady puffs of hot air tickle the side of her throat even through the fabric of his mask, and he smells so much like living, breathing boy that it almost hurts. But Rin tells herself to ignore all that and focus, because now is not the time. Now is to Konoha and their mission and putting Kakashi back together so that she doesn't end up losing him as well.

She knows that she must be quick, and Kakashi groans through his chakra-induced sleep as she reaches across his body for his left arm, deftly manoeuvring it to loop around her neck. She also knows that she must be hurting him – after all, who better to know the exact locations of all the cuts and bruises running across his skin and under his clothes – but Rin is a medical-nin and knows knows knows that she can't afford to take such petty things as discomfort and personal space into consideration right now.

(She can't. Not even for him.)

Besides, she has learnt to be grateful for pain in her injured, especially when out in the field, because as long as there is pain, it's not too late.

So she takes a deep breath, digs her heels into the dirt and somehow finds the strength to push them both up on their feet. Kakashi sways dangerously, and she only manages about four steps before the burden on her shoulders suddenly lifts altogether.

"Where to?"

She motions to a sunny spot between two trees, and it doesn't surprise her in the least when sensei hesitates. It's far from ideal, she knows. It leaves them wide open to attacks from far too many angles to be safe or even remotely sensible, but it can't be helped:

Kakashi is in need of urgent treatment, and Rin needs light to administer it.

"It was the right thing to do," says Minato-sensei quietly as she moves to sweep Kakashi's hair away from his face. "He couldn't tell that I was watching."

She instantly halts her ministrations, Kakashi's forehead protector still clutched in her hands. He had certainly acted strange earlier – first refusing to let her anywhere near his eye, then insisting on staring blankly into the distance once he had – but Kakashi could be part-ninken for his sensitive nose, not to mention the ugly rumours about him that Rin does her best to ignore, and his ability to sense chakra is second only to sensei's, so surely—

"You tensed, but Kakashi…" Sensei trails off, and her grip around Kakashi's hitai-ate tightens. "Kakashi didn't react to my presence at all."

She stares down at her unconscious teammate as sensei's words unravel themselves more fully in her mind, and she suddenly feels sick sick sick and so utterly useless – even after all this, why is she still so useless? why? – because what does this mean what is happening what is she doing wrong and oh God what else has she missed? What—

Stop. Stop it. Stop. Stop. Stop. You know better. Don't panic. Don't you dare letting everyone down now. You know what to do. So breathe, Rin. Breathe.

(Breathe in.)

Try harder. Don't be a burden to sensei.

(Breathe out.)

Slower, slower. Kakashi needs you to be calm.

(Breathe in.)

Good. Now deeper. That's better.

(Breathe out.)

Good girl.

(Breathe in.)

Make Obito proud.

(Breathe out.)

Breathe. Just keep breathing and never, _ever_ stop.

So she does. She breathes, and when she moves to undo the first roll of fresh gauze, her hands are mostly steady.

"Rin?"

She heeds sensei's unspoken question straightaway, and she wishes that she had something definite to tell him. But she doesn't.

"...I don't know," she replies quite truthfully, because right now she can't say anything for certain. "But I think it's hurting him."

Minato-sensei looks thoughtful. "Could you take the Sharingan out?" he asks.

She hesitates. It's not so much that sensei's suggestion doesn't make logical sense, because it does. It's just that… "Obito. The Sharingan, it—"

"A memento, I know." Sensei smiles apologetically. "But can Kakashi really fight like this?"

"Yes," she says, simply but firmly, because Kakashi _can_ and that is all there is to it.

(Because unlike Minato-sensei, she has seen with her own two eyes exactly what Kakashi can do with Obito's gift. But sometimes only seeing is believing, and that holds especially true for shinobi.)

"In that case, this can't happen again." Sensei looks grim. "We might not be so lucky next time."

She swallows hard. They are a Leaf cell infiltrating Iws territory, each step taking them closer and closer to a vital strategic point, enemy patrols are likely to be scattered all over the area and they could be discovered at any time; lucky is an understatement.

"I wonder…" Minato-sensei crosses his arms over his chest. "Could the Sharingan be draining him of chakra?"

Rin frowns, but supposes that it's plausible. Obito's eye is a bloodline limit compatible with only a small number of people, all Uchiha, but even then—

"To put him in this state, you had to overload Kakashi's normal chakra circulation."

This is not a question, and Rin grows cold.

"How much of your chakra did you use to put him under?" asks sensei slowly. "Rin, how much did you use?"

"Minato-sensei, I—" She looks down at her hands. "It… Nearly all I had left," she admits.

(Which was too much, she knows. Far too much for such a simple procedure.)

Sensei just looks at her for a long moment. "I don't need to tell you how reckless that was," he says at last. "You put yourself in a lot of danger."

She hangs her head in shame. She knows that sensei isn't angry at her for wanting to help a teammate, but she can tell that he is disappointed that she rushed in without thinking things through, and that is almost worse.

Still, what is done is done. They have to keep moving forwards, and even if they can't, they must at least try.

So she reaches for one of the hidden pockets sewn into her left sleeve, extracting a small black capsule from the invisible fold. She forces herself to bite down on it, grimacing when the content coats the inside of her mouth and throat with its thick, ugly taste of nothing. Konoha's soldier pills are oily and bitter and perfectly disgusting, but they are also potent and life-saving; and she supposes that she ought to be more grateful to the members of the Research and Development Department for their hard work.

(After all, just the one pill is enough to keep her going for the next few days and their mission should hopefully be over by then, shouldn't it?)

"Hyourougan…" Sensei frowns and rakes a hand through his blonde hair. "Rin, could this work on Kakashi?"

She stares at him stupidly for a few seconds before the ryou finally drops: Obito's Sharingan. Kakashi's unusually low chakra supply. The soldier pill and its chakra-replenishing properties.

And Rin suddenly feels extremely foolish. But then, everyone in the village knows that Minato-sensei is brilliant.

(So, _so_ brilliant.)

"Maybe," she says, a bit shakily, because this maybe is a hypothetical one at best. Most things come at a risk, and this in particular could go horribly, horribly wrong in more ways than she even dares to think about.

(But on the other hand, she already transplanted a Sharingan eye and surely that ought to count for something.)

"—if the balance is struck right, then it just might."


	13. Chapter 13: Soldier

Author's Note: This story is moving forwards at a snail's pace, I know. (*Hangs head in deep and profound shame*) But it's definitely not dead, I swear!

* * *

><p>Chapter Thirteen<p>

**Soldier**

#

Kakashi's mind kicks back into gear with a start, immediately registering the distinct smell of wood burning and the precise, barely-there movement all around and above him, and his adrenaline spikes to send the rest of his body into an overdrive.

(What happened? Where is he? Who is touching him?)

He readies himself to explode upwards, outwards and _away_, because even without opening his eyes he can tell that he is at the mercy of a shinobi. It must be, because only a shinobi moves like that – cautiously, deliberately and with far too much care – though this is something only a fellow shinobi would know. But the alarm bells in the back of his mind are and remain unequivocally silent, and Kakashi trusts his instincts much in the same way that he has learnt to trust sensei.

His nose twitches.

(It's one of _them_.)

"Wake up."

Kakashi exhales slowly. He knows that voice, and so he keeps his eyes firmly shut: be patient and even the dobe, who is just stupid and irritating and plain persistent like that, eventually tires and goes away. It's a tried and tested method, perfected over the span of more miserable C-rank missions than he cares to remember, and it is usually quite effective too.

"Kakashi, wake _up_!"

(Clearly, the usual tactics won't be cutting it today.)

"Leave me alone," mutters Kakashi tersely, swatting at the empty air above his head with his left hand. "It can't be my turn yet. Go away, Obito!"

The second those words leave his mouth, he feels the atmosphere change into something dark and deadly quiet in a way he can't explain – and all of a sudden everything feels extremely out of place and _wrong_, and those damn alarm bells in his head just won't stop ringing. But before Kakashi has a chance to speak up and demand that the stupid Uchiha explains right now what the hell he did this time to mess things up, and that he better not be stingy with the details if he knows what is good for him, Obito says in a voice that is far too soft and gentle and feminine to ever have been Obito's in the first place:

"K-Kakashi, it's Rin."

That has him bolting upright, wincing when his forehead collides rather violently with something cold and hard and distinctly metal. But he ignores the pain and the tiny shuriken dancing before his mind's eye, because this confirms beyond all reasonable doubt that even his worst fears won't even come close to whatever situation they are actually in. She says it so easily, but the fact that it is _Rin_ who is waking him up – that _Rin_ is up and about while Kakashi most certainly is not – is unsettling and thoroughly _not_ _right_ on so many levels, because Rin is their medic and a girl and _Rin_, and as such she is automatically exempt from guard duty whenever Team Minato is away from the village on a mission. Kakashi, Minato-sensei and Obito take turns watching over her, and over each other, and that's that.

(It so happens that this is the second thing that Minato-sensei makes him and Obito agree on. The first being not to strangle one another in public.)

"What happened?" demands Kakashi harshly, perhaps more so than Rin truly deserves, but something is wrapped around his head and he can't _see_.

(And where on earth is Obito?)

"It's okay," she murmurs reassuringly, quickly slapping his hands aside to stop them from pulling at the strips of soft cloth covering nearly a quarter of his face. "Don't worry. Your eye is just fine, Kakashi."

This actually calms him somewhat, if only because Rin – unlike Obito – isn't a compulsive liar. But even that doesn't change the very real fact that he has to turn his head just to see her.

"Your eye is fine," repeats Rin firmly from somewhere on his left. His unprotected, defenceless, blind left. "It's a precaution, remember?"

(He doesn't.)

"How are you feeling?"

Kakashi reluctantly turns his neck enough to include her in his peripheral vision, but she refuses to look at him for some reason and that makes him uneasy. "I'm fine…" he replies suspiciously, because the way she says it suggests that he shouldn't be. "I—"

He stops. His mind is flooded with strange, disjointed images that quickly fuse together to form a complete sequence of context and meaning, and soon realization slaps him hard across the face.

"_You_ did this," he says, slowly and with care. "Rin, what did you _do_?"

She fidgets with the sleeves of her shirt, but she doesn't back down. "Kakashi, please understand. Your chakra was—"

"Rin, look at me. For how long was I out?"

And just as expected, her resolve cracks. "I had no _choice_—"

"For how long?"

(He knows that he is being cruel, but they're wasting precious time.)

A shadow separates itself from the darkness around them, slowly coming within range of the campfire. "For me, it could have been longer."

"Minato-sensei…" Kakashi jumps to his feet, sways a little, then turns to the man accusingly. "_Why_?"

"Your recklessness was endangering the mission," says sensei in a low voice, and Kakashi can't believe his ears.

(Can't believe that sensei of all people who knows better than anyone else—)

"There's no time," he replies coldly in an attempt to make Minato-sensei understand. "Hokage-sama said—"

"Yes, Kakashi, I know." Minato-sensei's mouth is a thin line. "But the village needs this team to succeed."

The not-so-hidden meaning behind sensei's words nearly knocks the breath out of him, but before Kakashi can do or say anything, Rin intervenes. "Sensei, how much further to the bridge?"

"I'd say about a day." Minato-sensei looks thoughtful. "Maybe even less."

Kakashi takes a deep breath and _thinks_. Sensei will always be sensei, but Kakashi is team leader now. "So if we start now—"

"Tomorrow."

Sensei's voice is firm, and Kakashi grits his teeth. He normally wouldn't dream of using Minato-sensei's humanity against him, but the situation isn't leaving him much choice. "Sensei," he says in a way that he hopes is convincing, "people are _dying_."

"And more will die if this mission fails." Minato-sensei turns and takes a step back into the night. "Kakashi, I understand your feelings, but it's for the best. We wait until tomorrow."

Then, sensei is gone and Kakashi grudgingly sits back down. Only a short moment later, a black pill is pressed into the palm of his hand.

Kakashi quirks an eyebrow in question, but Rin insists.

They don't speak.


End file.
